How do I get my website “out there,” and convert more traffic?

This time on Web Therapy I’ll be answering a question many online business owners have which, which is how do I get my website out there and convert traffic once they arrive. Jenny from www.beauty21.co.uk, got in touch recently, to ask exactly this and so I decided it would be a great case study for other online biz owners out there.

So let’s start with… tips for marketing your site:

Know who you’re trying to find

You really need to know who your target market is before you start and this is where many business owners struggle because they feel their business would suit “anyone.” It’s really hard to write and design a strong marketing strategy unless you know exactly who your perfect customer is. So in the case of Beauty21, is the site trying to appeal to the 16-25 professional market? Or stay at home mums? Is it for people looking for a bargain or for people looking for (and willing to pay for) luxury items? Knowing this will make it so much easier to then…

Know where to find your customers

Once you know who you’re looking for, you need to find out what other websites they spend time on. What beauty forums, blogs or magazines do the target market of Beauty21 get involved with? Find these resources and make sure you are familiar with them and familiar with the issues and conversations your target market are having within them.

Communicate to your market

Once you know where to find your market, you can begin your marketing. This could be in a number of ways such as advertising in magazines, offering support and advice within forums or writing useful guest posts for other blogs which track back to your website.

Make a strong first impression.

Just as it’s important to know who your target market is it’s also important that when they do visit your site, they have a clear understanding of what you do and why they should be interested. A tagline and your opening paragraph on the homepage are two of your strongest tools in communicating this and you should spend some time crafting the copy for this. In the case of Beauty21, it might be a tagline such as: “Big name brands at purse-friendly prices…” or “Avoid high-street hassle, cosmetics delivered to your door in 48 hours…”

Focus on a selling point that your target market will love and emphasise that on the homepage rather than try and cover everything that you offer from the moment your site says “hello.”

The Website

So, you know where your customers are and you’re building up the profile of your website. Make sure that your site is working hard to serve your customers in the best possible way by:

Making sure your “prime web space” is working towards your goal

Common customer behaviour when visiting a website is to glance at the main image in the top centre, and then let the eyes drift to the top right. Because of this make sure you are making the most of this space. With Beauty21, I would:

Swap the “Secure payments by…” and the “Beauty Directory” sections on the homepage for featured products. Secure payments are important, but you can use a much smaller logo and include it at the very top of the page rather than take up this valuable spot on the home page.

Don’t duplicate design on the home page

On the homepage, the big cosmetic brand logos are duplicated on the main header image and then in the main body of the page. This is a lot of space that you could use to promote your products instead. Brand association is very useful, so it would be worth keeping the brands in the header image and replacing the ones in the main body of the home page with more featured items, perhaps “This season’s hot picks” to show that the site is current and up to date with the latest fashion.

Don’t distract them with too much product choice

On the results pages, all products show up on one page and this can overwhelm buyers. Too much choice is like having no choice. It would be better to split the results to 5-10 per page so customers have time to really browse and get to know your lovely products without thinking that they have to keep scrolling quickly to make it to the end of the list.

Make it easy for customers to find what they want

I would narrow the search filters on the left hand side further to include more specific categories such as “eyes” “lips,” “search by brand” etc. that way, someone who knows what they’re looking for is going to be able to find it quickly and will be more likely to buy than to visit another website.

Good luck!

If you would like your website to be reviewed, please send Amy an email and she will let you know if we are able to review it for you.

Amy Harrison is a copywriter for entrepreneurs. In addition to writing for her clients, she also coaches business owners to smash up their sales copy obstacles and get their offers out there. She is the also the author of How To Get Your Sales Page DONE!

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